Ready for liftoff

Here's how to watch Texans make history with the NASA/SpaceX mission launch

Houston-area NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will make a historic flight.

Photo courtesy of NASA

UPDATE: With just minutes to go before launch, the Crew Dragon mission was scrubbed due to weather concerns. The next flight attempt will be 2:22 pm Saturday, May 30, according to NASA.

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Two NASA astronauts are set to make history on a space mission with many Texas connections.

Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley — who hail from the Houston area — will blast off on Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, a Falcon 9 rocket, at 3:33 pm (CST) Wednesday, May 27, from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The flight is currently scheduled as a 60-percent “go” for launch as of May 27, with only inclement weather or a technical issue holding up the takeoff.

The mission will carry the duo to the International Space Station and is considered a new era of human spaceflight, as it's the first time American astronauts will launch on an American rocket from American soil to low-Earth orbit since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011.

The mission is the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. It’s the final flight test for SpaceX; the mission will validate the company’s crew transportation system, including the launch pad, rocket, spacecraft, and operational capabilities.

The road to success for SpaceX runs through the small Central Texas town of McGregor, as the Waco Tribune-Herald reports. McGregor, a Waco suburb with a population of 5,200, is home to a SpaceX facility that employs about 500 workers and tests engines and other components before every launch. When the rocket boosters are recovered from the Atlantic Ocean, they are transported to McGregor for refurbishment.

Getting the spacecraft and astronauts safely home will boost the fortunes of the Waco-area aerospace industry and the SpaceX plant in general, Andrew Smith, executive director of the McGregor Economic Development Corp., told the newspaper.

The pairing of NASA — a governmental agency — and SpaceX, a commercial space flight operation, means NASA could save tens of millions in flight costs and instead focus on its Artemis mission to the moon, for example.

“The ultimate goal for us as astronauts and test pilots is just to go up there and prove out the mission and to bring the vehicle home safely,” Hurley told CultureMap news partner, ABC13.

The mission also will be the first time NASA astronauts will test the spacecraft systems in orbit — Behnken and Hurley will don new, specially designed spacesuits and use touchscreen computers systems.

Due to COVID-19 and subsequent social distancing issue, the launch will see only a small crowd at the Cape Canaveral takeoff.

But the whole world can watch via live feeds on social media channels.

Viewers can watch NASA’s coverage beginning at 11:15 am May 27 and running through the Crew Dragon’s docking at the International Space Station on May 28.

As part of the pre-launch ceremonies, at 12:07 pm, Burleson native Kelly Clarkson will sing the National Anthem. Launch and pre-launch activities can be watched on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and even LinkedIn.

A special called Space Launch Live: America Returns to Space airs at 1 pm on the Discovery and Science Channel and will feature special celebrity guests including singer Katy Perry, Adam Savage, former NASA engineer and YouTube star Mark Robert, and astronaut Chris Cassidy from the International Space Station.

For those watching at home and looking for a festive theme, Space Center Houston created an at-home viewing guid e, including a playlist, outfits, and space food.

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cyber commute

Frisco tops 2026 list of U.S. cities with the most remote workers

Photo by Unsplash

Remote work really is all that and a bag of chips.

North Dallas neighbor Frisco has landed atop a 2026 list of U.S. cities with the most remote workers for the second consecutive year, and an up-and-coming McKinney has surged into the top 10.

The personal finance experts at SmartAsset compared the 357 largest U.S. cities based on the percentage of people who work from home, and additionally calculated the mean commute times for non-remote workers in each city. Remote work prevalence was analyzed using U.S. Census data from 2023-2024.

The findings revealed a third of all employees based in Frisco work remotely, with more than 42,000 remote workers as of 2024. However, the city's remote work prevalence is slightly lower than it was the year before.

"Frisco remains the top city for remote work with 33.7 percent of workers aged 16 and up working from home, despite a slight decline from 34.2 percent a year earlier," the report said.

Frisco residents that don't have the privilege of working remotely spend about 27.3 minutes on average commuting to their workplaces, SmartAsset added. Over 63 percent of Frisco workers drive to their jobs, and less than one percent walk to work.

In McKinney, the prevalence of remote workers in the city surged from 24.2 percent in 2023 to 26.7 percent in 2024. The report additionally found there were 32,798 residents working remotely in McKinney in 2024.

McKinney workers also spend more time commuting than Frisco residents do. The average commute time for in-person work in the city added up to 31.8 minutes. Nearly 70 percent of workers drive to their jobs, and .69 percent report that they walk to work.

Nationally, remote work has declined as more employers push return-to-office mandates, according to SmartAsset. But new reports have indicated these mandates are backfiring as more people seek employment at companies that embrace and prioritize flexible working environments.

"Remote work can open up a lot of opportunities for employees, families, and employers alike," the report's author wrote. "However, shifts into remote work may also cause short-term challenges to some communities – such as loss or redistribution of businesses and services used by commuters."

For remote workers in Dallas-Fort Worth, there's a greater financial incentive to work remote than to commute. An April 2025 U.S. Census Bureau study determined remote workers in the Metroplex earn nearly 51 percent more than their commuting counterparts. Dallas-area remote workers made a median income of $77,000 in 2023, compared to $51,100 for other workers.

"Tradeoffs abound, tracking the evolution of work culture and where the spoils of productivity end up can provide guidance to businesses, politicians, job-seekers, and employers alike," the report said.

The top 10 U.S. cities with the most prevalent remote workforces are:

No. 1 – Frisco, Texas
No. 2 – Berkeley, California
No. 3 – Cary, North Carolina
No. 4 – Boulder, Colorado
No. 5 – Scottsdale, Arizona
No. 6 – Arlington, Virginia
No. 7 – McKinney, Texas
No. 8 – Fishers, Indiana
No. 9 – Boca Raton, Florida
No. 10 – Carlsbad, California

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